They are happy to give up two of six lanes of car traffic on Hurontario Street, aka Highway 10, the city’s busiest north-south thoroughfare. The LRT would run up its centre: 23 kilometres from Port Credit north to the heart of Brampton.

We think of Mississauga as car-dependant sprawl. But Mississauga is changing. About 30 new condo towers are sprouting like spring shoots of corn all around Mississauga City Hall. Increasingly, citizens of Mississauga ride transit.

On Thursday, at Islington subway station, I caught a MiWay bus (the new name for Mississauga Transit) to visit Matthew Williams, project manager, LRT for the City of Mississauga. Boarding the bus I experienced sticker shock: $3.25 for a fare with a transit agency that offers a fraction of the service of the TTC? Then the driver told me my transfer allowed me to ride any bus, in any direction, for two hours. I watched passengers tap their Presto cards on the green reader (paying this way costs $2.70), and almost broke into song: “Everything’s up to date in Mississauga!”

Mr. Williams works on City Centre Drive across from city hall. It seems a lonely job: he is the only person assigned full-time to bring light rail to Mississauga. Even so, he is upbeat.

“I live in Port Credit,” he says. “I love my community. It’s walkable. How do you replicate that in other parts of Mississauga? It would be nice to live in these condos, take the train down to Port Credit, and go bar-hopping or go to the beach.”

Mr. Williams, 46, joined transportation planning here in 1990. He remains philosophical about the challenges of this LRT effort. After all, Mississauga worked since the 1980s on a bus-only Transitway adjoining Highway 403. That $250-million project opens next year.

“We can decide to be a suburban city, or we can look at places within the city where we can provide those urban elements that some people like,” he says.

Planning an LRT costs big bucks. Both Mississauga and Brampton councils this fall approved an environmental assessment for the LRT. When they complete the work next June, the two cities will have spent $15-million to $20-million on the LRT, with Mississauga paying 75% and Brampton 25%.

It’s a quiet effort, however. Along Hurontario, nobody is even aware of the LRT scheme.

“What’s the purpose?” asks Angelo Mazaris, owner of the busy Orchard restaurant at Hurontario and Dundas streets for 47 years. “I have never heard of it.”

A server at Wally’s Restaurant, where I stopped for a burger, greeted an LRT brochure with surprise. “Right now there are too many cars on Hurontario. It will create more problems for traffic.” Mississauga needs a subway to Toronto, she says, not a north-south train.

MississaugaA map of the future LRT line.

John Sanderson, a regional councillor in Brampton, voted last week against studying light rail on Highway 10, known as Main Street in Brampton.

“When people go on that train to go south, where are they going to go?” he asks. “To the airport lands? To Port Credit?” Brampton needs more GO trains to Toronto, not LRTs, he says, adding sarcastically: “It would be nice to put all those people on a [light rail] train to go down and spend all their disposable income at Square One [Shopping Centre].”

Mississauga and Brampton are asking the province, through Metrolinx, to pay the entire cost of the line, about $1.5-billion including the trains. But at this point there is no provincial money committed to the project.

“It’s the future,” says Nando Iannicca, a longtime Mississauga councillor. “It has to happen. The province says, ‘Sprawl is a problem. Go up, not out.’ We say, ‘OK, we will.’ This LRT will take 6,000 movements of traffic an hour off the roads. We are the poster child of provincial policy. It’s about time the premier stepped up and rewarded us for playing according to the rules.”

A letter from TTC commissioner Karen Stintz to councillors this week explains that a further move to privatize garbage collection and washroom cleaning will save the transit commission millions. But for a service that appears to be in a perpetual search for money, further measures must be under consideration. Would driverless rail vehicles be an option? As part of this occasional series, the National Post’s Sarah Del Giallo looks at the possibility that subway trains may one day drive themselves.

Q: Is that even possible?

A: The vehicles themselves are designed so that they can operate without drivers, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy next step to automated service. The Yonge-University subway line is currently capable of running without an operator, but the TTC would need to work out platform safety and train control. Currently the line uses two drivers per train. In the short term, all they can do is bring two drivers down to one, said Ms. Stintz. This moves in the direction of automatic trains, but there aren’t any plans to have the system run automatically. Ms. Stintz said an automated system would eventually save the TTC cash, but it is too costly upfront. “In the long run, it would [save money], but we’d have to make some capital investments and right now those investments aren’t budgeted.”

Q: And does the same go for light rails?

A: Both the new Bombardier streetcars — the first of which will be in Toronto by the end of September for testing and move into use in 2013 — and the crosstown trains, which will be in use on the Eglinton, Scarborough RT, Finch and Sheppard lines and are due in 2020, can also be operated without drivers, but there are no plans to use them that way because of the difficulty of using automated vehicles in direct traffic. An LRV would need to have absolute right of way on city streets. That would only be the case for the underground portion of the Eglinton Crosstown.

Q: But everybody would be in favour of moving toward automation in the subway, right?

A: Not if you ask Bob Kinnear. Investing in the infrastructure required for such a project would be a misappropriation of funds, said the president of Toronto’s Amalgamated Transit Union. “I just feel the money would be better allocated to service,” he said. “We don’t believe that’s an improvement to the system, when there are people in Scarborough who have to wait half an hour. It doesn’t improve services, and it definitely doesn’t improve safety.”

Q: Which seems like a good time to address that issue …

A: Mr. Kinnear said drivers help to ensure that the public has a sense of security when riding transit. “The technology isn’t always as efficient as we’d like it to be,” he said. But Vancouver’s Translink Skytrain has been running automatic service for over 26 years. Drew Snider of Translink said automated service doesn’t take security or customer service away from passengers. “It’s driverless, but that doesn’t mean it’s not populated,” he said. Translink employs transit police, technicians and platform attendants who are available for “front-line customer service.” There is also a control centre where stations are monitored by cameras, and transit police or technicians can be contacted to respond immediately. The system is capable of stopping entirely if something falls onto the track, and a technician can take over the train and drive it manually if need be.

Q: So would switching to an automated service cost jobs?

A: Mr. Snider said a transit system that uses drivers would probably employ more people, but it’s not as dramatic a difference as people may imagine because of the jobs in customer service, train attendants and control boards. “That being said, there would be labour issues that would have to be worked through that are specific to Toronto,” said Mr. Snider.

On Wednesday, Metrolinx reinstated plans to build four light-rail lines in Toronto after a year and a half of delays triggered by Mayor Rob Ford’s attempt to cancel the project in favour of his own preferred transit plan. And yet, even with Ford’s ﬁght against light rail apparently at an end, there are still ways the project could run into difficulties before its expected completion, in 2020.

The Next Municipal Election Metrolinx plans to start construction on street-level light rail in 2014, which coincidentally is when the next municipal election will be held. If Mayor Ford wins another term, it might be difficult for him to use his mandate as leverage for stopping the project a second time. But he could try.

Political Instability at Queen’s Park The province is putting $8.4-billion toward building all these light-rail lines — a sum of money Dalton McGuinty’s government was responsible for mustering. If McGuinty and his Liberal minority were suddenly to be swept out of power, a new premier could conceivably alter the deal. Considering the fact that provincial legislators narrowly avoided triggering an election during this year’s budget process, this is far from impossible.

Public-Private Partnership Challenges Metrolinx knows that cost overruns happen, and one way they’re trying to cope with that eventuality is by involving the private sector in construction. “At the core of the public-private partnership is risk transfer,” says Matti Siemiatycki, a professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in infrastructure finance. He believes Metrolinx, through Infrastructure Ontario (the province’s project-delivery agency), will try to find private companies willing to take on part of the construction debt in exchange for a future payoff. This would give those companies a financial interest in getting the rails installed on budget. The deal would need to be structured so that it both incentivizes the private partners and deals with officials at the TTC, who are reportedly skittish about operating lines designed and built by an outside company.

Cost Overruns In 2003, a team of academics from Denmark’s Allborg University conducted a study that looked at what 258 large infrastructure projects were expected to cost, as compared to how much money they actually took to build. Rail projects, the study found, tend to exceed their estimated budgets by an average 44.7%. Toronto’s light rail might turn out to be an exception. But if it’s not, we don’t yet know where the extra funding would come from.

Torontonians appear to be virtually split over whether to build subways or light rail transit in the city. So says a new poll, conducted by Leger Marketing, that delves into what residents want to do about transit.

The online survey of 550 people by Leger Marketing found that 44% believe Toronto should build subways in the proposed areas, versus 40% who would rather build light rail (16% didn’t know or refused to answer).

It found that 62% of respondents agreed with the statement “Toronto should not cancel or change the current plan if it means higher costs or a longer wait for new transit”. But 55% of those surveyed also agreed that “we should build subways in Toronto, because underground transit would be less disruptive to cars, even if it costs more and takes longer to build.”

The survey was conducted between Jan. 12 and Jan. 16 using Leger’s online panel and a sample of 550 Toronto residents. A probability sample of the same size is considered accurate plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. Leger self financed the survey. It found 65% of people believe that the so-called light rail plan called Transit City “was an effective step forward in helping meet Toronto’s transit needs”.

The survey found that 44% of people want to keep the light rail lines, but move more of them underground; 32% want to to keep the plan as is, and 15% would stop light rail and build subways.

“If you talk to people about what they know and prefer what we know and prefer is subways, we’re used to it,” said David Scholz, executive vice president of Leger Marketing. “What we’re worried about is traffic congestion from anything but subways.” The results show that Torontonians want a “compromise” with their transit, said Mr. Scholz. About one quarter of respondents agreed that Toronto should build subways because it’s what Mayor Rob Ford promised in the election.

Environmental activists defended a plan to lay down light rail transit tracks across the city, saying that it creates “way more winners” than Mayor Rob Ford’s subway plan.

Using statistics released by the Pembina Institute, the Toronto Environmental Alliance compared Mayor Ford’s proposal for 18-kilometres of tunnel along Sheppard and the Scarborough RT to a 148-kilometre LRT network that is only partially funded. The provincial government has committed $8.15-billion to build 53 kilometres of light rail along Eglinton, Sheppard, Finch, and the Scarborough RT. The four lines were supposed to stretch 75 kilometres, but Queen’s Park delayed half of funding last year and shortened the lines to be completed by 2020.

“We’re here today essentially because there has been a heck of a lot of talk about transit in the last while but unfortunately most of it has been of the political variety,” Jamie Kirkpatrick, a transit campaigner for the TEA, said standing next to a map that showed more than double the number of LRT lines than those that have committed money. He defended the use of the full 148-kilometre map. “Even if you look at the four priority lines that are funded, there is still way more winners created by using the light rail network then there are by adding a little bit of subway.”

Pembina Institute’s report, which was also released on Wednesday, calculated that the four lines, in their original length, are within a six minute walk of 290,000 residences or workplaces, including 45,000 low-income residents. Mayor Ford’s subway plan, by comparison, would serve 61,000, it found. Graham Haines, one of the authors of the report, estimated that about 200,000 workplaces or residences are within six minutes of the scaled back version that is funded. That includes about 30,000 low-income people.

“To me the big difference is the difference in cost per kilometre. We’re looking at a plan that is proposing subways, without the additional costs for rail yards and maintenance, are costing over $300 [million] per kilometre, for LRT you’re looking at a cost below $100 [million] per kilometre, so simply put we’re going to be able to connect one third of the people,” said Mr. Haines, a technical policy analyst for the Pembina Institute.

Related

“Ryan Bissonnette moved on a couple of weeks ago,” said TTC spokesman Brad Ross, who will be answering all future Transit City questions.

According to a source, Mr. Bissonnette, the Transit City spokesman, left the TTC after his bosses told him to stop talking to reporters. His departure came a few days after he took the National Post on a tour of Transit City projects on Sheppard Avenue East.

Mr. Ross confirmed the new mayor will meet Gary Webster, chief general manager of the TTC, on Wednesday but would not discuss the subject matter.

Mr. Ford said during the campaign he wants no light rail: only a subway to Scarborough.

A little more than three weeks after the election, on Nov. 19, Rob Prichard, the chairman of Metrolinx, the provincial transit authority, and Bruce McCuaig, Metrolinx CEO, met on the 16th Floor of City Hall’s west tower with four members of Mr. Ford’s transition team: Nick Kouvalis, Mr. Ford’s chief of staff; Mark Towhey, his director of policy; and former city councillors Gordon Chong and Case Ootes.

Metrolinx sought the Ford team’s blessing for the light-rail plan, but got nowhere.

“There was no sense of backing off,” said a source. “They are pretty keen on a subway.”

Since 2007 the TTC has been designing and engineering, and has begun to build, a network of light-rail lines.

The province in May committed $1-billion for the Sheppard Avenue East light-rail line, and $4.3-billion for the Eglinton Avenue LRT.

City council, the TTC, the province and the federal government have all approved the light-rail project.

Transit City employs 150 people, divided between consultants and TTC staff. The TTC has already spent $137-million in provincial money on the project.

Mr. Ford’s appointee to head the TTC, Councillor Karen Stintz (Eglinton-Lawrence) has been a longtime supporter of Transit City, whose centrepiece is a light-rail line along Eglinton Avenue, with its central stretch travelling through a tunnel. In April Ms. Stintz campaigned alongside Mayor David Miller at the Eglinton subway station to “save Transit City,” saying, “I fully support Mayor Miller and his initiative and I’m proud to stand here beside him and get the message out.”

But on Monday Ms. Stintz conceded that things have changed.

“The Metrolinx plan will be revisited and I will continue to support the Metrolinx plan as it gets revised provided it meets the objectives of the administration,” she said. “I campaigned on the Metrolinx plan.”

It is unclear whether Mr. Ford has the authority to kill Transit City.

“The TTC is the agent for the light-rail network that is currently being designed and engineered and, in the case of Sheppard, built,” said Mr. Ross. “Direction could be given by the commission to change direction. That would have to happen with Metrolinx at the table.”

Another big question mark is how Mr. Ford will square killing the project with his vow, during the campaign, to save money. Along with spending $137-million on Transit City so far, Metrolinx in June signed a contract for $770-million with Bombardier to buy 182 “Flexity 2” light-rail vehicles that will operate on the Sheppard, Eglinton and Finch lines. Metrolinx also signed a deal worth $54-million with Lovat, a division of Caterpillar, to build four tunneling machines for the Eglinton LRT line. And Metrolinx has a consulting contract with the New York-based engineering giant, Parkers Brinckerhoff.

“This will cost them money,” said a source close to the province. “If we spent $140-million on Transit City, the province isn’t going to eat that. So it’s going to cost [Toronto] money. The province is going to want to get paid back.”

Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne was not immediately available for comment.

The City of Ottawa was forced to pay nearly $100-million after a light-rail contract it signed in 2006 with Germany’s Siemens AG was subsequently cancelled under Mayor Larry O’Brien.

National Post

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/posted-toronto/mayor-fords-first-stop-hit-brakes-on-transit-city/feed6stdPJT-LRT-7-Ontario commits to Transit City — in 10 years rather than eighthttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/ontario-commits-to-transit-city-in-10-years-rather-than-8
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/ontario-commits-to-transit-city-in-10-years-rather-than-8#respondFri, 30 Apr 2010 02:07:53 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1679

The Ontario government has committed to seeing through the completion of Transit City’s four approved light rail lines — in 10 years rather than eight — despite Premier Dalton McGuinty’s March budget announcement that $4-billion in funding would be delayed for the next five years.

The confirmation that the approved light rail projects, in addition to York Region’s express busways, would go ahead despite warnings to the contrary by Toronto Mayor David Miller, is contained in an April 27 letter from the province to city manager Joe Pennachetti obtained by the National Post.

“Initial work by Metrolinx suggests that the four Transit City projects can reasonably be completed in 10 years, while achieving the required savings of $4-billion in the first five years,” says the letter. “The province will make Metrolinx’s Big Five transit projects a high priority in the new 10-year infrastructure plan to be launched in 2011.”

The province’s confirmation comes two weeks after Mr. Pennachetti sent a letter to the province asking for a breakdown of funding over the next five and 10 years.

But Stuart Green, a spokesman for Mr. Miller, said the province’s letter does little to convince the city that all approved Transit City lines will be completed in 10 years.

“The language in the letter talks about projects being ‘reasonably completed.’ There are no five- and 10-year timelines. We need more certainty than that,” he said.

Mr. Miller has been on a public relations crusade over the past two weeks, denouncing the province’s $4-billion spending delay, warning that it could mean the end of several Transit City lines, and urging TTC riders through transit PA systems to contact the province to voice concerns.

He continued hammering the provincial government during a lunchtime speech at the Toronto Board of Trade yesterday, arguing that the funding had been “cut” rather than delayed.

“I invite you to ask the provincial government, will they put in writing to the city of Toronto that the $4-billion that they cut out, will be in years 2015 to 2020? I’ve been asking that for three weeks, and they will not put in writing that that money is being put back in the budget,” Mr. Miller said.

Robert Pritchard, CEO of Metrolinx, the public agency tasked with planning public transportation in the GTA, was on hand to hear the Mayor’s speech. Afterwards, he said the Premier had repeatedly emphasized that Transit City’s $9.5-billion budget has not been cut.

“The only issue is to phase the building of the projects in order to be respectful of the overall budget circumstance of the province, while still putting in place these invaluable projects,” Mr. Pritchard said.

“It’s important to keep those facts straight. There is no cut of the budget of these projects. There is no cutting of the projects.”

The Sheppard East LRT is already under construction and is expected to be completed by 2013. Mr. Miller said the TTC is ready to start building the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch LRT lines this year, pending notification from the province. The Eglinton line is scheduled for completion in 2016, while riders should be boarding the Finch line by 2014, he said.

The original Transit City plan for the revitalization of the Scarborough RT rapid transit line is set to begin in 2012 and be complete by 2016.

However, it’s not clear if the longer funding timeline will cause those dates to change.

Mr. Pritchard said Metrolinx would present a plan next month outlining how the agency intends to complete the approved transit lines on time and on budget.

— Kenyon Wallace, National Post with files from Natalie Alcoba

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